LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Manorial Government.
In 1294 the bishop of London
claimed to have in Ealing, as a member of his
manor of Fulham, view of frankpledge, infangthief, outfangthief, chattels of fugitives, tumbril,
pillory, gallows, and the assize of bread and
of ale. (fn. 24) Courts baron for Ealing were normally
held twice a year from 1383 until the mid
19th century, meeting at Fulham from 1445 or
earlier. (fn. 25) The spring court was also a view of
frankpledge, and other courts baron were held
occasionally. There were separate aletasters for
Ealing and Old Brentford in 1383, and the
number of chief pledges was large and fluctuating.
A constable occurred in 1492, a constable for Old
Brentford and a constable and chief pledge for
Little Ealing in 1509, and a constable for Great
Ealing and a constable and chief pledge for West
Ealing in 1512. From 1522 until 1834 or later one
constable, two chief pledges, later called headboroughs, and one aletaster were elected annually
for each of Ealing and Old Brentford wards. The
vestry paid the expenses of constables and headboroughs in 1798 and 1806. (fn. 26)
Between 1791 and 1920 the homage of Ealing
manor acted as a standing committee out of
court, regulating manorial business and convening public meetings of copyholders. (fn. 27) Its continued vitality stemmed from control of the
uninclosed waste, which the lord by 1697 could
not alienate without consent. (fn. 28) The copyholders
maintained the commons as an amenity and spent
income from any grants of the waste on charitable
purposes.
New Brentford lay within Boston manor.
Westminster abbey in 1294 claimed that the
manor was part of the liberty where it exercised
extensive rights, including view of frankpledge
and the assize of bread and of ale, although those
rights, with tumbril, were also claimed by the
priory of St. Helen, Bishopsgate. (fn. 29) A view of
frankpledge and court for Brentford were held at
Westminster in 1364 and 1365, in June, (fn. 30) and a
solitary roll recorded a view of frankpledge and
court baron in 1614. (fn. 31) In the late 17th and early
18th century a court for Boston 'with West
Brentford' was usually held in April, often at the
Red Lion or the Three Pigeons. Meetings, described sometimes as those of a court leet with
view of frankpledge followed by a court baron,
later became less frequent: there were 10 between
1743 and 1805 and 4, all at the Three Pigeons,
between 1811 and the last recorded court in
1842. (fn. 32) There was a constable and a bailiff in
1378. (fn. 33) Officers elected in 1614 and 1692 were 2
constables, 2 headboroughs, 2 aleconners, 2 flesh
and fish tasters, a leather searcher, a leather
sealer, and a registrar; from 1692 there was also a
pinder. A bailiff and 2 affeerors were added in
1786 and all the offices were filled as late as
1792. (fn. 34) A court baron was held for Coldhall or
West Ealing manor from 1504 to 1722. (fn. 35)
Parish Government To 1836. (fn. 36)
Ealing vestry
met from two to four times a year between 1704
and 1715, with from 5 to 19 attenders. (fn. 37) In the
early 19th century it was thinly attended, except
on special occasions, and met at the Cross House,
north of Ealing church, possibly the former
church house. (fn. 38) A new Cross House, often called
simply the vestry room, was built in St. Mary's
churchyard in 1840 and replaced in 1880 by the
vestry hall in Ranelagh Road.
Churchwardens and overseers were recorded
in 1599 (fn. 39) and two surveyors of the highways in
1654. (fn. 40) There were separate overseers for Upper
Side (Ealing) and Lower Side (Old Brentford) by
1675, (fn. 41) one churchwarden and one overseer
being elected for each from 1798 and two overseers for each from 1834. An assistant overseer
was employed in 1812. Highway trustees, under
an Act of 1767, were elected by the vestry, with
which they were often at variance. The office of
vestry clerk, filled by Thomas Jullion from 1796
until 1834, lapsed in 1836 but may have existed in
an honorary capacity until its revival shortly
before Ealing adopted the Vestry Clerk's Act in
1869. (fn. 42) There was a beadle by 1797, whose duties
were defined in 1808 and 1833, and a parish clerk
in 1654, (fn. 43) whose office in 1802 was combined
with that of sexton. A separate parish clerk was
appointed for Old Brentford in 1829 and in 1839
two unpaid sextons were appointed, one for each
ward. Other officers included the keeper of the
church clock in 1806, the overseers' messenger in
1836, and the bellringer in 1865.
Poverty was not serious in 1599, when the
impotent poor were supported by a weekly rate
distributed by the churchwardens and overseers.
Able-bodied paupers were set to work, with the
aid of £5 which had been collected, and the
parish officers knew of no vagabond who had not
been apprehended. (fn. 44)
The poor of each ward (fn. 45) were relieved by its
overseer until 1814, when they were administered
jointly by the assistant overseer. By 1698 poverty
was causing concern (fn. 46) and in 1724-5 the vestry
ordered that casual relief was to cease and that no
outsiders should settle without certificates. The
building of a workhouse did not eliminate outdoor relief. Paupers increased greatly during the
18th century, as did the poor rates, which stood at
4s. or 5s. in the £ in the 1790s and even higher
later. There were 20 regular pensioners between
1789 and 1792 and 141, including 59 widows, in
1832. After 1750 there were increases in settlement litigation and in the apprenticing of poor
boys, generally with small premiums. Bread was
distributed at times of dearth, and in 1832
paupers were helped to emigrate. (fn. 47)
A workhouse and stock for the poor to work on
were to be provided in 1698, whereupon a house
for 8 poor was acquired in 1701. After abortive
plans for its extension, a new workhouse was
built west of St. Mary's Lane in 1728. Its
supplies were arranged by the vestry, (fn. 48) which
often dismissed the master. The inmates were
employed at spinning and later at casual labour,
but their work was never profitable: tools were
lacking, men were outnumbered by women, and
women by children. There were 30 beds in
1743-4 but before 1750 the number of inmates
reached 64 on occasion. There were 48 inmates in
1754, 17 in 1760, 86 in 1779, 142 in 1785, and 175
in 1801. In 1797 the workhouse was badly
overcrowded. In 1803, when there were 150
inmates for 55 beds, the parish vainly promoted a
Bill to take over 14 a. of common at Ealing Dean
for a workhouse, (fn. 49) and in 1812 the existing
workhouse was enlarged. Its state was found
acceptable in 1820 (fn. 50) and again in 1836, when it
could accommodate 360 and had only 84 inmates.
The buildings were sold in 1839 (fn. 51) but partly
survived in 1979. Sums spent on the poor rose
steeply from £720 in 1776 to an average of
£1,316 from 1783 to 1785; (fn. 52) they were £2,886 in
1834-5 and £2,003 in 1835-6. (fn. 53)
New Brentford was governed separately from
the rest of Hanwell by 1621, when the vestry of
the chapelry decided to make its own officers
more accountable. Two chapelwardens, one of
them nominated by the minister, 2 overseers of
the poor, also called collectors before 1641, and 2
surveyors of the highways were elected annually,
usually at a meeting in the chapel in April. (fn. 54)
There was a sexton, paid quarterly, by 1694, a
uniformed beadle by 1752, and a salaried vestry
clerk (fn. 55) and a salaried organist in 1814. The vestry
also elected constables and headboroughs from
1815. (fn. 56) Chapelwardens' accounts, including
orders of the vestry, exist for 1615-1814, (fn. 57) together with overseers' accounts ('poor's books')
for 1617-61 and 1714-1808, (fn. 58) vestry minutes for
1814-64, and constables' accounts for 1688-
1710. (fn. 59)
The chapelwardens' funds were spent partly
on the poor in the early 17th century, being
supplemented by money raised at the Whitsuntide games, (fn. 60) although there was already a
separate poor rate. (fn. 61) New Brentford was comparatively backward in its poor relief in 1733, (fn. 62)
when pauper children were boarded out with the
master and mistress of the charity school. A poor
house on the Ham common was to be inspected
regularly by the beadle in 1753, when the vestry
also rented other houses for the poor, and was
adapted as a workhouse in 1757, when those who
refused to enter were to have their pensions
stopped. (fn. 63) The workhouse, with a maximum of
27 inmates in 1758-9 and 32 in 1760-1, (fn. 64) was
usually managed directly by the vestry, which
considered quarterly tenders from local tradesmen. The poor were farmed, however, from 1796
to 1807 and again from 1832; (fn. 65) out pensions, at
first disguised as casual relief, were resumed from
1785-6. (fn. 66) Money spent on the poor of New
Brentford totalled £334 in 1776, an average of
£383 from 1783 to 1785, (fn. 67) £907 in 1834-5, and
£817 in 1835-6. (fn. 68) Originally leased, the workhouse was conveyed to the chapelry in reversion
by James Clitherow in 1796. A confinement room
for riotous inmates was to be added in 1787 and
the building was ordered to be sold in 1838. (fn. 69)
Local Government After 1836.
Both Ealing
and New Brentford were included in Brentford
poor law union in 1836. (fn. 70) The parish continued
to elect trustees of the highways, (fn. 71) who were
consulted by a committee of the vestry in 1859
before it recommended adoption of the Local
Government Act, 1858. (fn. 72) Six inspectors were
appointed in 1851, after adoption of the lighting
provisions of the Lighting and Watching Act,
1833, for Ealing village, and a further nine were
appointed in 1857, for the lighting of an area
farther south. (fn. 73) Agitation for a local board of
health was repeatedly frustrated by Old Brentford, with the result that in 1863 the highway
trustees were superseded by a local board only in
that part of Upper Side extending a furlong north
of the G.W.R. line. Northern Ealing, being rural,
was not included until 1873, when the board's
membership was raised from 9 to 12. (fn. 74)
In 1894 Ealing became a U.D.C. and in 1901
the first municipal borough in Middlesex, with 6
aldermen and 18 councillors representing 6
wards: Drayton, Castlebar, and Mount Park
north of Uxbridge Road, Lammas, Manor, and
Grange to the south. (fn. 75) Ealing absorbed Hanwell
U.D. and Greenford U.D., which included
Perivale and West Twyford, in 1926, and
Northolt in 1928. There were 15 wards in 1950,
represented by 45 councillors and 15 aldermen, (fn. 76)
and 16 wards from 1960 with 48 councillors and
16 aldermen. A Bill to achieve county borough
status was defeated in 1952 (fn. 77) and Ealing, Acton,
and Southall boroughs united in 1965 to form
Ealing L.B. The council consisted of 10 aldermen
and 60 councillors, representing 20 wards. (fn. 78)
Conservatives, who had dominated Ealing
M.B., (fn. 79) won control of Ealing L.B. from Labour
between 1968 and 1971 and again in 1978. (fn. 80)
Borough of Ealing
Parted chevronwies gules and argent, in chief dexter two crossed swords and in sinister chief three pommelled and hilted or; and in the base an oak tree eradicated poper[Granted 1902]
Ealing local board first met at Cross House.
The officers worked above a shop in High
Street (fn. 81) and consisted of a clerk and the local
historian Charles Jones (d. 1913), who, as
engineer and surveyor, planned much of suburban Ealing. (fn. 82) They moved c. 1866 to the corner
of Railway Approaches and the Broadway, and
later offices and an engine house, designed by
Jones, were built on the corner of the Mall, where
the offices survived in 1980 as the National
Westminster Bank. The existing town hall in
Uxbridge Road, (fn. 83) of stone and designed in the
Gothic style by Jones, was opened in 1889 and
greatly extended in 1930 and later by G. H.
Fellowes Prynne. (fn. 84) In 1979 it housed the main
municipal offices of Ealing L.B. except those of
the engineer, surveyor, and architect, which were
at no. 24 Uxbridge Road, those of the chief
education officer at Hadley House (nos. 79-
81), and the children's department, at no. 26
Castlebar Road.
New Brentford had three surveyors of the
highways in 1853. (fn. 85) From 1874 Brentford as
a whole was governed by its own 12-member
local board of health, which was superseded by
Brentford U.D.C., itself united with Chiswick
U.D.C. in 1927. The local board's offices
were at the market house, also the seat of the
county court and petty sessions, in 1890, as
were those of the U.D.C. in 1908. (fn. 86) From 1907
the courts sat at the vestry hall in the Half Acre,
built in 1899, and later, before amalgamation
with Chiswick, the council used Clifden House,
Boston Manor Road. Clifden House was demolished in 1953 and the former vestry hall in
1963. (fn. 87)
London Borough of Ealing
Argent, an oak tree proper fructed or growing out of a grassy mount; on a chief gules three Saxon crowns or [Granted 1965]
The Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, established the Ealing parliamentary division of
Middlesex, which included Ealing Upper Side,
Acton, Chiswick, Greenford, and Perivale. (fn. 88) It
always returned a Conservative or Unionist, as
did the separate constituency of Ealing between
the World Wars. (fn. 89) In 1945 Ealing M.B. was
divided into Ealing East, which included most of
the former Upper Side and elected a Conservative, and Ealing West, containing most of the
newer additions. Under the Representation of
the People Act, 1948, it was again reorganized as
Ealing South, containing all Upper Side except
Mount Park ward, and Ealing North, which
covered the rest. Ealing South was represented
by a Conservative from 1950 until 1974 and
Ealing North by a Labour member, except
between 1955 and 1964. Further reorganization
in 1974 divided Ealing L.B. into Southall, thereafter represented by Labour, Ealing North,
represented by Labour until 1979, and Acton,
which returned a Conservative. That part of
Ealing which lay within the local government district of Brentford from 1885 was in
the Brentford division, which also included
Hanwell, Isleworth, Norwood, and Twickenham, (fn. 90) and normally returned a Conservative
before the creation of Brentford and Chiswick
constituency. (fn. 91)